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Things I Wish I Knew Before My Mom Died by Ty Alexander
BATB score: 7/10 👩👧💞 ahh it’s actually a memoir for her mom’s passing rather than a self-help book; yet, in the mom-memoir category “Crying in H Mart” wins by a mile 💗 Best for: daughters. even better if your are both a daughter-to-a-mother and a mother-to-a-daughter BATB lingering thought: two good tips, from things I wish I knew before my Mom died, is (A) to record your mom’s voice somewhere somehow and (B) in response to anyone’s statement of “my mom just passed” is “


My Daddy The Pedophile: A Memoir by Lily Palazzi
BATB score: 10/10 🥹 BATB reader discretion advised: not for the faint-hearted, not for the unicorns and rainbow souls; because real life is truly worse than any Netflix series can depicts Best as: such an important memoir, such a valuable book; seriously, if you are going to write something, write something that is meaningful like this, it’s about being a victim, to a survivor, to an advocate Best for: humans are monsters - it got worse and worse every chapter BATB lingering


PARIS: The Memoir by Paris Hilton
BATB score: 9/10 💗💎 wow what a comeback for Paris Hilton! Best to: what we’ve known about Paris Hilton has only been in the tabloid and what a brilliant book to tell her side of the story (book release 2023) BATB lingering thought: ‘tabloid’ refers to dumb content that actually makes you dumber and dumber Best as: after reading this memoir, to me, Paris Hilton is a very smart entrepreneur who is so clever to make herself a brand; she’s the OG KOL influencer way before socia


Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by Tom Felton
BATB score: 7/10 🧙♂️ *reader discretion advised: must be a true Harry Potter the movie series fan* Best for: you would love love love this book only if you can answer this question, who did Alan Rickman play in Harry Potter? otherwise, you would have to be googling while reading this book to understand who Tom Felton is talking about (which is fine but not immersive) Best to: I believe Tom Felton still tried to be politically correct throughout the book until the very last


Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery by Catherine Gildiner
BATB score: 7/10 🍳 a therapist shares five heroic stories of emotional recovery; aka the art of paying to talk things through Best to: the five individual stories were very sickening and thus very interesting - super fun to read like Black Mirror Best for: only if you are someone who is exploring a career path as a psycho-therapist or is someone who wishes to be better and is considering therapy as a remedy, this book is for you; otherwise, it’s too niche BATB lingering thou


The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work by Simone Stolzoff
BATB score: 10/10 👏👏👏 *required reading for office employees* we need to redefine our relationship with work because it is overrated and unhealthy Best for: any one who has said they are ‘passionate’ about the industry, company, or role; do know that the feeling was never mutual 💔 Best as: if only we can compete on who has better work-life balance instead of who has better work success (over what sacrifice), life would be so much more enriching and interesting BATB linger


Risking It All: Elon Musk by Michael Vlismas
BATB score: 3/10 🚀🧨 Best for: in one’s lifetime one should definitely read at least one Elon Musk book, this is not that one Elon Musk book that one should read; better to check out Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance [7.6/10 BATB] Best as: so interesting how writers capitalize on other people’s stories; I am sure Michael Vlismas is not giving any of this book’s proceeds to Elon Musk BATB linger thought: I hope this world have more Elon Musk, the crazy ones, who is insane enough to d


The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
BATB score: 9/10 🥹 Britney Spears is such a sensation and a legend 🙇🏻♀️ Best to: if we talk about world peace, literally one thing that binds the world is our shared love for Britney Spears songs and lyrics [I Just Can't Sleep / I'm So Excited, I'm In Too Deep] Best for: your family can become toxic when money is involved Best as: wow 13-years in a conservatorship is insane; only in USA; 1.3M active cases right now BATB linger thought: dear Britney Spears, I am so happy t


Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger
BATB score: 1/10 🤬 omg shut up Best to: mister invincible, mister go fight win, just go away Best for: this work hard play harder mentality is so yesterday BATB linger thought: this book would be exponentially better if Arnold Schwarzenegger talk truthfully about his affair, his failures as Governor of California, his whatever! just with more sincerity and humility; Arnold and David Goggins can be friends Best as: the book’s narration sounds like that annoying uncle at famil


Wildflower by Drew Barrymore
BATB score: 4/10 🌸 Best for: wah Drew Barrymore really wrote this memoir for herself and nobody else as the stories only matters to her and nobody else Best to: what it means to be famous for being famous is you can write up a book; promote it with your name and disregard the content Best as: Drew Barrymore’s milking that passive income Best quote: “I wanted to be a good girl, and I wanted goodness to be the theme of my life and my work.”


A CEO For All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra, and Kurt Strovink
BATB score: 8/10 👏 Best as: you don’t just get an offer to be CEO, you set “CEO” as your life’s goal and work backwards 24 years of career planning and progression to get there Best for: CEO career climbers only - “Many CEOs secretly agree that the best job in the world is actually the one right below the CEO.” Best to: a true playbook on how to get to be CEO, how to be CEO, and how to leave as CEO - lead with the question of “why?” to drive focus, and “why not?” to encourag


Drunk(ish) A Memoir of Loving and Leaving Alcohol by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor
BATB score: 4/10 🥂 Best to: whenever you are in doubt on whether you are an alcoholic Best for: ahh, I am an alcoholic Best as: or am I just an alcohol enthusiast? Best quotes: “to be a better version of myself and at worst to get some quiet in my brain” “I need friends who understand my limitations and have lowered their expectations.”


Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Bommers, and Silents - and What They Mean for America's Future by Jean M Twenge, PhD
BATB score: 7/10 🤓 Best as: a full-blown white paper research on the differences of the different generations under the premise that “the era when you were born has a larger effect on your personality and attitudes than the family who raised you does” Best for: the nerdiest of nerd; beautiful line graphs on almost every other page; quantitative surveys and qualitative deep dives 📈 BATB lingering thought: the only down part is that it is US-based; I wonder whether the result


How to Enjoy Your Life and Job by Dale Carnegie
BATB score: 7/10 🩵 Best as: this book is borderline a scam as it is merely a collection of selected chapters from Dale Carnegie’s two other best sellers “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” Best to: however, it is a good refresher if you have read the other two best sellers a while back OR a good introduction to Dale Carnegie if you haven’t read anything Dale Carnegie Best for: an extremely instagramable and quotable book BATB


Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant
BATB score: 6.5/10 🙄 *reader discretion advised* BATB is starting to get really bored, annoyed, and tired with productivity books. In the spirit of mental health, can you please shut up? BATB lingering thought: well, if you read all of Adam Grant’s books then you got to read his new book right? ahe. Best to: this book has forty key takeaways; FORTY! I know he knows that FORTY is a little bit too much Best as: reference book for a lot of instagram-mable graphs and smarty Adam


How to Give Zero Fucks by Stephen Wildish
BATB score: 4/10 🤬 content wise the author gave zero f*cks Best for: the book aesthetics - the title, the cover design, the hardcover feels, the illustrations, the color print, the page texture, the publishing house smell; basically everything except the content itself Best as: not a bad gift for someone who obviously will not read the book beyond it’s title and maybe pretend to flip through the pages twice BATB lingering thought: this book is borderline annoying; the jokes


Same as Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity, and Living a Good Life by Morgan Housel
BATB score: 8/10 🖤 Best to: it was very close to being very good book yet the 23 concepts were just all over the place; unlike Morgan Housel’s previous BATB 10/10 “Psychology of Money” book that was just about money #duh Best as: back in 1950s, we all were poorer but happier than today and that’s because there was no wealth gap, no one is better off, nothing to envy Best for: I believe many other book review pages would give this book a 10/10 so to avoid FOMO, read it BATB l


Barking Up The Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success is (Mostly) Wrong by Eric Barker
BATB score: 9/10 👌🏻 10/10 book but it’s like 6 books in 1 book (1 chapter = 1 book in itself), intense shit - a typical Joe can not digest this Best to: kudos to Eric Barker for concluding shitloads of research paper synopsis, numerous behavioral experiments and results, and quotes from so many influential authors, while adding one’s valuable deciphers; literally knitting it all-in into one book 💯 Best for: there so much material in this book for you to chew, digest, and p


Lights Out: Pride, Delusion, and The Fall of General Electric by Thomas Gryta and Ted Mann
BATB score: 5/10 💡 *reader discretion advised* not a book for the average joe; requires IVY league educational background a complete post-mortem extremely detailed report of what happened at General Electric from Jack Welch’s most successful company stardom to Jeff Immelt’s company downfall bye bye die Best as: no one really needs to know that much detailed post-mortem unless you are doing a General Electric business case review Best to: unpopular opinion, I do feel sorry fo


The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté with Daniel Maté
BATB score: 6/10 🧡 *reader discretion advised* max advanced level reading skill required; this book about trauma can actual cause trauma in readers Best to: an in-depth analysis on how our toxic society makes us claim “this feels good. I want more” instead of the more valuable meaning of life “this feels good. I am contented. I am complete.” Best as: “The perceived need to be what the world demands becomes entangled with our sense of who we are and how we seek love.” - 500 p
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